LP You are a star and we reallly appreciate all of your help and advice. It has been invaluable. I will of course keep the forum updated with developments.

Also I need to stop the baliff from returning how do I do that????? I want to stop incurring anymore charges

OK LP here is the letter of complaint with the confidential issue taken out. Tell me what you think. Any mods gratefully received October 8, 2008 Nottingham City Council The Guildhall Burton Street Nottingham NG1 4BT RE: Visiting of a Bristow & Sutor Bailiff to my abode on the 06th October 2008 Dear Sir or Madam: I am writing to complain in the strongest terms with regards to the above visitation by a bailiff to my house. According to the bailiff the visit was to retrieve claimed council tax arrears for Miss Amelia xxxxxxx. The arrears were allegedly accrued during the period 31st July 2002 until sometime in 2007, for the property XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. The amount which the bailiff claims has been accrued and is now owed is £3068.54. I wish to strongly complain about this visit on the following grounds. 1: This is the first time that Miss xxxxxxx (now Mrs Amelia xxxxxxxx) is aware that she has been approached by the council in relation to council tax arrears. From 31st July 2002 no bills or any other correspondence has been forthcoming with regards to this matter. We found it absolutely outrageous that the apparent first port of call for the council with regards to this matter is recourse to a debt recovery company. 2: With regards to the claim for council tax on Miss Leeman for the period outlined above; Miss xxxxxxx vehemently contests that the council tax was included in the rent which she paid to her landlord Mr. XXXXX. At no time did Miss Leeman agree to accept liability for the council tax on the property. However, on contacting your office it was confirmed to Miss Leeman that Mr XXXXXhad been allowed to transfer liability without any coobberating evidence, such as the tenancy agreement. Therefore Miss xxxxxx has wrongly been made responsible for a substantial sum of £3068.54 of council tax arrears without even being aware of the alleged liability. Furthermore the first time that Miss Leeman is aware of allegation of liability for these arrears is some 6 years and 2 months after first moving into those premises. Please be advised that unless your office deals with this matter to the satisfaction of Miss xxxxxxx at your earliest possible convenience we will be pursuing our complaints with utmost vigor. We will be making our complaints known to our local councilors, Nottingham City Council as a whole, the board of directors for Nottingham City Council, our local MP as well as the Valuation Tribunal and, if necessary to the Local Government Ombudsman claiming, as we believe, maladministration causing injustice. I trust that you will immediately give this complaint your utmost attention. Please be advised that we require your response to this complaint in writing. Sincerely,

Thanks really helps. Strange thing here the address for the property is Grd Floor Flat when as the actual address is 35b. I think that the bills have definitely been sent to the wrong address. I also still strongly suspect that the landlord was withholding all this correspondance so that my wife was never aware. I need to find out when the first balliff/council tax officers was sent out

thanks I will get on with that letter tonight and post in draft here. My wife is part of the civil service union and is going to contact them to see if they can help with legal advice and support. I will let the forum know what they say

Thanks LP. Will do and you offer is appreciated Another thing: I rang the council. No evidence was requested to check liability. Is this allowed. I could not do this for Water Rates (as an example). I would need to provide proof. Another thing £3068 for the coucil tax on a tiny 1 bedroom flat in Nottingham seems VERY VERY high even for 3.5 years. Could the landlord have said that my wife was responsible for the whole property??????

I rang the council. No evidence was requested to check liability. Is this allowed. I could not do this for Water Rates (as an example). I would need to provide proof. Another thing £3068 for the coucil tax on a tiny 1 bedroom flat in Nottingham seems VERY VERY high even for 3.5 years. Could the landlord have said that my wife was responsible for the whole property??????

Thanks for all of the feedback We feel really agrieved about this. All of the onus is on us to prove everything. After 7 years (from when my wife moved in) this has come up. How exactly can we prove that she did not receive the bills. Was she really supposed to ring the council to check that no-one had made her liable for the council tax. Does everyone keep tennancy agreements from 7 years ago even when they have got married and moved house.

Hi has any got any constructive advice on this issue. Really hoping for your help.

Thanks Buzby, I really appreciate the response. However, this issue was 6/7 years ago. As such the tennancy agreement has long ago been tossed. If this was something that my wife was due to pay I would have no hesitation in doing so. However she was not, and no bills ever came through to her. Therefore I feel it is my responsibility to fight this. What I need is good advice on how to effectively go about this. With thaat info I will give it my full attention and try to ensure that the Council does what is right. PURSUE THE LANDLORD

Hi there, I am looking for some advice. Yesterday a balliff arrived at my door asking for £3068 in unpaid council tax bills (and charges!!!!) from my wife from 6 years ago!!!! Apparently this was unpaid arrears for a flat that my wife had been living in for 4 years. Now according to my wife the agreement with the landlord was that he would pay all bills for the property. IE The the rent constituted an all inclusive amount, and that seems to have been honoured for every other bill, electricity, water rate etc. I talked to the council yesterday stating that and that my wife never received one bill (apparently numerous bills/reminders/summons were sent to the original property!!!!!). However my wife never received any bills at the time. The flat that my wife had was one of two in the house. Post generally went to the other flat as that had the postbox. The tennants of that flat would then post through my wifes door. However not one council tax bill or associated correspondance ever arrived. The council advised us that Landlord had put the liability in my wifes name on the day she moved in. This seems unbelivable. So my wife became liable for a bill that she hadn't agreed to without anybody checking with her (To my knowledge you can't do this with any other bill you must get identification.) It seems to me that this is a con. The landlord makes out that the rent is one price to the tennant (which is attractive so they will stay) and then tells the council something else. It then takes six years for them to get themselves sorted out. I would really like to hear the advice of the forum on this. I am keen to know how to proceed, because as far as I am concerned we don't owe the council 1 penny. The landlord does. Your help is really appreciated forum.........

Hi there, I am looking for some advice. Yesterday a balliff arrived at my door asking for £3068 in unpaid council tax bills (and charges!!!!) from my wife from 6 years ago!!!! Apparently this was unpaid arrears for a flat that my wife had been living in for 4 years. Now according to my wife the agreement with the landlord was that he would pay all bills for the property. IE The the rent constituted an all inclusive amount, and that seems to have been honoured for every other bill, electricity, water rate etc. I talked to the council yesterday stating that and that my wife never received one bill (apparently numerous bills/reminders/summons were sent to the original property!!!!!). However my wife never received any bills at the time. The flat that my wife had was one of two in the house. Post generally went to the other flat as that had the postbox. The tennants of that flat would then post through my wifes door. However not one council tax bill or associated correspondance ever arrived. The council advised us that Landlord had put the liability in my wifes name on the day she moved in. This seems unbelivable. So my wife became liable for a bill that she hadn't agreed to without anybody checking with her (To my knowledge you can't do this with any other bill you must get identification.) It seems to me that this is a con. The landlord makes out that the rent is one price to the tennant (which is attractive so they will stay) and then tells the council something else. It then takes six years for them to get themselves sorted out. I would really like to hear the advice of the forum on this. I am keen to know how to proceed, because as far as I am concerned we don't owe the council 1 penny. The landlord does. Your help is really appreciated forum.........